NEW DELHI: The government has allotted coal blocks in Odisha to power PSU Neyveli Lignite Corporation, which is looking to ramp up coal-based electricity generation capacity.

"The government has decided to allot Talabira-II and -III coal blocks in Odisha to Neyveli Lignite Corporation," an official said.

The development follows allotment of a coal mine in Jharkhand to NLC, which had asked the government to allot more mines to it in view of its expansion plans.

Earlier, NLC chairman and managing director Sarat Kumar Acharya had said that the company had been "allotted a coal block in Jharkand" and they had requested the coal ministry to allot more blocks, which would fuel their "capacity addition in coal-based generation".

NLC plans to have 19,000 megawatt (MW) capacity by 2025, and projects to generate 6,000 MW from coal and 2,500 MW from lignite were already underway, he had said.

When asked about allotment of mines in Odisha, the official said the blocks have been alloted in accordance with the relevant rules.

NLC had earlier said that the company was not limited to lignite mining and lignite-based power generation in Neyveli complex. It has diversified into coal-based power generation, renewable energy and coal mining.

Last year, the company commissioned its first 10 MW solar energy project at Neyveli.

“To save the environment and to fight climate change, my government has planned a major campaign. By 2022, we want to generate 175 GW of renewable energy. In the last three years, we have already achieved 60 GW or around one-third of this target,” he said.